Conservative groups are demanding that the Trump administration shift family planning funds away from clinics that also provide or refer for abortions.
In a letter sent to Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar this week, 85 groups that oppose abortion asked the Trump administration to block Title X grants from going to organizations that also provide abortions, are housed in the same place that abortions are provided, or that refer women to places where they can receive them. The regulations are similar to those set under former President Ronald Reagan.
Liberty Counsel Action, the Pro-Life Action League, Susan B. Anthony List, and the Family Research Council are among the organizations that signed the letter. A similar letter from 40 senators and 150 House members sent this week had the same request.
Title X funds pay for birth control, cancer screening, and testing of sexually transmitted diseases for low-income patients. The funds do not pay for abortions, but those who oppose allowing clinics that provide abortions to receive taxpayer funding say the provision frees up money for them to provide more abortions than they would be able to otherwise. In their letter, the organizations said the funds should go to clinics that focus only on other areas of family planning.
“It is time to act swiftly to disentangle abortion centers from the Title X network,” they wrote in their letter.
The Trump administration and Republicans have supported taking federal funding away from Planned Parenthood because it is the nation’s largest abortion provider.
“President Trump promised that he would defund Planned Parenthood. Now is the time for the president’s administration to back the president and fulfill that promise,” said Mat Staver, chairman of Liberty Counsel Action. “The majority of Americans believe that taxpayer funds should not pay for abortions. It’s time to stop putting our tax dollars into the pockets of organizations that kill innocent children.”
This week Planned Parenthood and other reproductive rights groups sued the Trump administration over the funds, saying that it has signaled it will prioritize programs that provide abstinence-only education as well as the “rhythm method” in which women follow their fertility cycle when deciding to have sex rather than taking birth control pills or using an intrauterine device.
